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Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Cipactli

Without warning, a bulky greenish shape bursts from the still water. The dripping, slimy creature which emerges is a bloated mixture of crocodile, fish, and toad; its body is covered with dozens of gnashing, teeth-lined maws, all of which appear to be hungry.

Cipactlis are a race of hermaphroditic aberrations descended from Teocipactli, the Divine Crocodile. Before the dawn of the First Sun, the gods attempted to build the earth and raise it out of the primordial waters; but each time the gods made a foundation for the world, Teocipactli, in its insatiable hunger, would consume it. Eventually, Tezcatlipoca ("Smoking Mirror", god of fate and sorcery) sacrificed his own right leg by using it as bait for the monster, distracting it long enough for his brothers to kill it. The young gods then cut Teocipactli’s body into many pieces and cast them into the water, but some of those pieces grew into the first of the monster’s many offspring. Like their divine parent, cipactlis are hermaphroditic: they are able to reproduce asexually and can restore whole populations from a single surviving member.

An adult cipactli weighs about 90 to 150 pounds, and stands between four and five feet tall (though they are usually seen crouched-over, in preparation for springing forward).

Death Roll (Ex)
When grappling a foe of its size-category or smaller, a cipactli can perform a death roll upon making a successful grapple check. As it clings to its foe, it tucks in its legs and rolls rapidly, twisting and wrenching its victim. The cipactli inflicts its bite damage and knocks the creature prone. If successful, the cipactli maintains its grapple.

Rend (Ex)
If a cipactli hits with two or more claw attacks in 1 round, it can cause tremendous damage by latching onto the opponent's body and tearing flesh (though it may deal damage in this manner no more than once per round). The additional damage is usually equal to the damage caused by one of the attacks, plus 1-1/2 times the cipactli’s Strength bonus. This damage has not been included in the damage for the cipactli's normal claw attack.

Sprint (Ex)
Once every four rounds, a cipactli may sprint, increasing its land speed to by 10 feet for 1 round.

Swallow Whole (Ex)
A creature that is at least one size category smaller than the cipactli and is currently being grappled by the cipactli can be swallowed whole.
Swallowed creatures take a variable amount of acid damage per turn, based on the cipactli's age-category (included in the stat-block). A swallowed creature can attempt to cut its way free with a light slashing or piercing weapon. The amount of damage needed to cut free is equal to 1/10 the cipactli’s total hit points. The cipactli’s AC against these attacks is equal to 10 + ˝ its natural armor bonus. If a swallowed creature cuts its way out, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed creature must cut its own way out.
A cipactli’s stomach is an extradimensional space which can hold an infinite number of creatures; therefore, there is no limit on how many creatures a cipactli can swallow in a single meal.

Tongue (Ex)
A cipactli’s tongue is a primary attack with reach equal to three times the cipactli’s normal reach. On a hit, the cipactli’s tongue deals no damage, but can be used to pull the opponent into the cipactli's square as a swift action.

Combat
Whenever possible, cipactlis prefer to ambush their prey, in a manner similar to that of crocodilians. However, cipactlis are much more willing than their mundane cousins to give chase to fleeing prey, and over much longer distances.

Typically, a cipactli (or a group of them) will lie in wait for hours, sitting perfectly still, waiting for suitable prey to wander by. Once their prey is within range, the entire brood bursts out of the water, biting anything they can reach, and using their tongues to pull any other potential victims into biting range.

Once it establishes a bite, a cipactli will enter a “death roll”, twisting and shaking its opponent to keep it prone and unable to fight back effectively. If the opponent or its allies pose a significant threat, the cipactli may decide to swallow its opponent whole before the creature is completely dead, and turn its attentions on its other attackers, or attempt to flee with its new meal safely stowed in its stomach.

Special Treasure: Cipactli-Stomach Bag of Holding
The extradimensional nature of a cipactli's stomach makes it easy to fashion into a bag of holding.

Any character who has the Craft Wondrous Item feat can convert the stomach into a bag of holding by spending 1 day chanting over it for each 1,000 gp in its price (see item entry for details).

Creating a bag of holding in this manner does not require the crafter to use-up materials equal to half its base price (cipactli stomachs are very valuable, after all), but there is a 5% chance that any bag of holding created in this manner becomes a bag of devouring instead.

The type of bag produced depends on the age-category of the cipactli whose stomach is being used: a juvenile's stomach can be used to produce a type I bag of holding; an adult's stomach can be used to produce a type II bag of holding; an elder's stomach can be used to produce a type III bag of holding; and an antediluvian's stomach can be used to produce a type IV bag of holding.

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

I kind of want death roll to be more terrifying... Since gators and crocs roll to tear chunks off their prey because their teeth are only for holding should it be sort of an improved version of Rend?

Also regarding that last sentence, I think they should be better at grappling than anything else. Crocs have the strongest bite known. They don't let go. Give it Grab. And maybe even give the tongue Pull.

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Haakapaizizi looks good! For CR, it should be 20 or greater, since it's got the epic DR. I'm gonna have to rephrase a lot of it for the book, but it's a solid chassis.

Now, to the cipactli.
The HP is off, my math says the average HP for the hit die is 36, and the con bonus should be +32, for a total of 68 HP.
You can consolidate the BAB/CMB/CMD lines into one like, like base attack/grapple on the old block. CMB should be +13, and CMD should be 25.
The bite damage should read (1d6+7 plus grab), rather than the whole appendix you have there. Similarly, the claw line shouldn't have the whole thing about the second claw dealing extra damage, you should express that as a rend special attack, or if it's from that feat just let the DM look up the feats. Also, I don't think the claws should be an or, it looks like the critter could easily enough reach it's face to bring the claws to bear on a guy it's chompin' on.
The critter should have 4 feats, at 1, 3, 5, and 7.
You should probably say they can reproduce asexually. Hermaphroditic creatures typically impregnate other individuals, rather than themselves.
Insatiable's effects should probably just be included under the swallow whole ability.
Leap's bonuses are a little weird. I would just say give 'em a flat +20 racial bonus to acrobatics checks made to jump.
In swallow whole, instead of saying 1/10th the total HP or 10+1/2 Natural armor, you should give flat numbers for the critter to target.
The tongue attack is odd. I'd suggest calling it a ranged touch attack with a certain range. If you hit the target, you can make a grapple check. If it's successful, you can grab and pull the target into your square.

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Some of your Special Attacks are missing a few game mechanics. I removed a few that needed to be put iskills (like leap) and put the swallow whole information all in the same spot. The information in Swallow Whole belongs in the Pathfinder statblock (not in 3.5)

Special Qualities: Amphibious, Darkvision 60 ft., Sprint

Sprint belongs in Special Qualities too.

Death Roll (Ex): As a standard action, a cipactli can tuck its and roll any foe that it has already grappled. Rolled creatures must make a Fortitude save (DC 17) or take 1d6+7 points of damage and be knocked prone. A successful save halves the damage and negates being knocked prone. If the cipactli is successful, it maintains its grapple.

Insatiable (Su): No matter how much food a cipactli consumes, it is always hungry, and always has room for more. There is no limit to the number of creatures a cipactli’s stomach can hold; a given creature fits in the cipactli’s mouth, then the cipactli can choose to swallow it whole, regardless of how many other creatures it has also swallowed whole. This needs to be incorporated into its Swallow Whole and doesn't need to be a separate ability.

Leap (Ex): Cipactlis are incredible jumpers, able to leap up to 30 feet horizontally or 10 feet vertically. They have a +14 racial bonus on horizontal jumps, or +24 on vertical jumps, and they do not need to make a 10-foot minimum running start before jumping to avoid doubling the jumping DCs. Cipactlis can always take 10 when making an Acrobatics check to jump.

Racial bonus is probably too high. I recommend dropping this be changed to a static +4 bonus to Jumping as a Giant Frog. This should be in skills and is not a special ability. It still shouldn't be able to take 10 while jumping.

When a cipactli begins its round by jumping next to an opponent it can make a full attack in the same round. A cipactli carrying a medium or heavy load (which would include the weight of any creature(s) it has swallowed whole) cannot use this ability.

Again, this isn't going to be useful in combat AND it essentially allows a creature to make a free attack, which is shouldn't do.

Many Mouths (Ex): A cipactli automatically deals 3x its normal bite damage to any grappled foe each round, as long as it maintains the grapple. [Maybe this should be changed to three automatic bite attempts?]

It should just be 3 bites as the new attack line. It should also have the Grab special ability. Grab should be with Tail or Primary Bite.

Grab (Ex): If a creature with this special attack hits with the indicated attack (usually a claw or bite attack), it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. Unless otherwise noted, grab can only be used against targets of a size equal to or smaller than the creature with this ability. If the creature can use grab on creatures of other sizes, it is noted in the creature's Special Attacks line. The creature has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use the part of its body it used in the grab to hold the opponent. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a –20 penalty on its CMB check to make and maintain the grapple, but does not gain the grappled condition itself. A successful hold does not deal any extra damage unless the creature also has the constrict special attack. If the creature does not constrict, each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals the damage indicated for the attack that established the hold. Otherwise, it deals constriction damage as well (the amount is given in the creature's descriptive text).

Creatures with the grab special attack receive a +4 bonus on combat maneuver checks made to start and maintain a grapple.

Sprint (Ex): Once per minute a cipactli may sprint, increasing its land speed to 40 feet for 1 round.

This ability isn't much use during combat as a minute is probably too long. Once every four rounds is better.

Swallow Whole (Ex) A creature that is at least one size category smaller than the cipactli that has taken damage from a cipactli's primary bite or is grappled by a cipactgli's tongue can be swallowed whole.
Swallowed creatures take 1d6+7 points of bludgeoning damage. A swallowed creature can attempt to cut its way free with a light slashing or piercing weapon. The amount of damage needed to cut free is equal to 1/10 the cipactli’s total hit points (6 hit points.). The cipactli’s AC against these attacks is equal to 10 + 1/2 its natural armor bonus (AC 13). . If a swallowed creature cuts its way out, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. There is no limit to the number of creatures a cipactli’s stomach can hold.

There is no limit to the number of creatures a cipactli’s stomach can hold. If a given creature fits in the cipactli’s mouth, then the cipactli can choose to swallow it whole, regardless of how many other creatures it has also swallowed whole.

Tongue (Ex): A cipactli’s tongue has reach equal to three times the cipactlis’s normal reach. A cipactlis’s tongue deals no damage on a hit, but can be used to grab. A cipactli does not gain the grappled condition while using its tongue in this manner.

Skills: Cipactlis have a +4 racial bonus to Jumping checks.

A creature with a swim speed can move through water at its indicated speed without making Swim checks. It gains a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform a special action or avoid a hazard. The creature can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered when swimming. Such a creature can use the run action while swimming, provided that it swims in a straight line.

Skills: +11 Acrobatics (+15 Jumping), +10 Stealth, +11 Swim

Feats: Rending Claws, It should have 2 more feats for 3.5 or 3 more for Pathfinder.

Advancement: 9-16 HD (Large) 17-24 (Huge)

Make it advance normally. Creatures start with their HD and only go UP. The easiest way to advance creatures is to have them increase in size when they double their HD.

Debby

Last edited by Debihuman; 2014-02-08 at 07:42 PM.

P.E.A.C.H. Please Evaluate And Critique Honestly. Being nicer and kinder doesn't hurt either. Note I generally only critique 3.5 and Pathfinder material.
Please, please, please when using non-core material, cite to the books. There are too many books to wade through to find the one with the feat, special ability or spell you use.my creations in homebrew signature thread

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

I'm thinking about doing a mini-project in which I will be restatting merfolk and making variant races based off of other mermaid myths, so I guess I'll claim the Auvekoejak. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

I made a couple of changes to the fenghuang. The females can now cast polar midnight once per day (instead of lunar veil). I also reduced the damage of all of its natural attacks by two steps; it now deals damage only one step above normal for a Small creature.

(Side note: the link to the fenghuang in the OP currently links to the sin-you instead.)

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Originally Posted by Dracomortis

I made a couple of changes to the fenghuang. The females can now cast polar midnight once per day (instead of lunar veil). I also reduced the damage of all of its natural attacks by two steps; it now deals damage only one step above normal for a Small creature.

(Side note: the link to the fenghuang in the OP currently links to the sin-you instead.)

Ooop, sorry about the mis-link. Fixed.
Great to see you fixed the feng huang!

Originally Posted by Perturbulent

I can take on Agloolik.
(I'll also likely be helping with quite a bit more in time.)

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Thanks for all the input on the Cipactli, guys! I don't have time to edit anything about it this morning, but I will take your advice into consideration, and try to work on it a bit during my lunch break today, as long as I'm not completely sick of staring at a computer-screen (I work in a call-center).

I'm glad to know it gets a few more feats, and I'll definitely be adding abilities like Grab and Pull. I guess what I'm looking for is something which works a little like Constrict, but deals bite damage every turn instead of bludgeoning. I'm not really sure what I was thinking, giving it the Rending Claws feat; I shall remove it forthwith.

Regarding Cavern-Knockers/Cobolds: I really think they should be Small, or even Tiny, not Medium-sized. The Spiderwick Chronicles describe them as about knee-height on 12-year-old human children, IIRC. Plus, they'd only get imported to the New World by Europeans if they're small, because that would make them easy to feed, easy to cage, and easy to manage if they escape or become violent. Medium creatures are much harder to justify in the close quarters of a mineshaft.

I was thinking that Europeans would bring Knockers over from their mines to the New World, where they would act like a cross between an ore-sniffing bloodhound (seeking out new veins of metal by scent, or by a sixth sense) and a canary in a coal-mine (warning miners of potential cave-ins by knocking on the stone). Part of their schtick is that they're associated with cave-ins; whether they cause them or warn of them varies from place to place. Maybe it could be both? Maybe they could have a spell-like ability to cause cave-ins (once per week? month?), and also have some kind of divination spell that lets them predict when natural cave-ins will occur?

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Im gonna revise Haakapaizizi. SR makes no sense given the way he is commonly defeated, and he needs different DR. He is in no way a CR 20 encounter.

This is a good point. Colossal is usually reserved for CR 20+, but it could be interesting to have a particularly huge but non-epic monster.

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Thanks for all the input on the Cipactli, guys! I don't have time to edit anything about it this morning, but I will take your advice into consideration, and try to work on it a bit during my lunch break today, as long as I'm not completely sick of staring at a computer-screen (I work in a call-center).

I'm glad to know it gets a few more feats, and I'll definitely be adding abilities like Grab and Pull. I guess what I'm looking for is something which works a little like Constrict, but deals bite damage every turn instead of bludgeoning. I'm not really sure what I was thinking, giving it the Rending Claws feat; I shall remove it forthwith.

Regarding Cavern-Knockers/Cobolds: I really think they should be Small, or even Tiny, not Medium-sized. The Spiderwick Chronicles describe them as about knee-height on 12-year-old human children, IIRC. Plus, they'd only get imported to the New World by Europeans if they're small, because that would make them easy to feed, easy to cage, and easy to manage if they escape or become violent. Medium creatures are much harder to justify in the close quarters of a mineshaft.

I was thinking that Europeans would bring Knockers over from their mines to the New World, where they would act like a cross between an ore-sniffing bloodhound (seeking out new veins of metal by scent, or by a sixth sense) and a canary in a coal-mine (warning miners of potential cave-ins by knocking on the stone). Part of their schtick is that they're associated with cave-ins; whether they cause them or warn of them varies from place to place. Maybe it could be both? Maybe they could have a spell-like ability to cause cave-ins (once per week? month?), and also have some kind of divination spell that lets them predict when natural cave-ins will occur?

Knockers are just full o' possibilities. I could certainly see the critters in the original myths being used as ore-hounds and canaries.

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

OK, I've updated the Cipactli with better and more-complete stats, including a complete array of feats, redistributed skill points, and improved attack-lines. I've just got two more questions:

Would the extradimensionality of the cipactli’s stomach make this an (Su) or (Sp) ability, or am I overthinking it?

How many HP would its tongue have? Is this even necessary to calculate?

Few problems still in there. For example, you mention claws in the attack line, but they don't show up under full attack, and you mention the tail slap under full attack but not under attack.

You shouldn't give DCs/damage/effects for all those special attacks. Most of the time it's given under the attack description. Rend should be there, but the rest should just be ability names, the details placed underneath.
It should look like: Special Attacks:Death Roll Leap, Rend (1d6+11), Swallow Whole, Tongue

I don't think the save for death roll should be fortitude. Fort's used to resist things like poisons. It should be reflex, to represent keeping your balance, or the cipactli should make a CMB check to try to knock you down.

Again, leap is a bunch of really weird bonuses. Just say they get a +20 bonus if you want them to be amazing jumpers, or +4/+8 if you want them to be somewhat more realistic.

I would again suggest that instead of saying 3x reach, you say '15 feet'. It's easier, and it fits better. If you want it to grapple the guy there and just stay stretched out, then you should give it HP. I would suggest just saying you hit the guy with the tongue then pull him into your square.

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Agloolik

Before you stands a hulking white furred humanoid. He’s as tall as 2 men at least, and his claws hang past his knee. A moment of fear occurs as he opens his mouth-wide. His teeth are pretty normal...Is he...Yes he’s singing. How odd.

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th)
3/day—ghost sound, pass without trace, ventriloquism
1/day--water breathing
Weather Savvy-- Agloolik can spend a full-round action to predict the weather in an area for the next 24 hours. The Agloolik's prediction is always accurate, but cannot account for spells or supernatural effects that might alter the forecast.

Agloolik are largely hairy creatures, though some scaled have been documents. They stand at least 10 feet tall, but can get as tall as 20 feet. They’re arms are long and gangly, but they have power behind them. They have wicked looking claws, but really prefer not to use them. They tend to be white in coloration, but the scaled ones sometimes appear as colorful as green or blue. They stand straight and confident when out of the water, in the water, they’re grace is unparalleled, moving as freely and wildly as a serpent. When forced to fight, they prefer to dissuade opponents by dragging them into the ice-cold water after a grapple. If at all possible, they will let their opponents live. They eat mostly fish, and live more than half of their lives beneath the ice.

Agloolik are largely peaceful fey. They prefer to answer issues before they arise if possible. They defend seals and seal cubs above all else. Rather than immediately resorting to violence, they will attempt to come to agreement first. Many fishermen and hunters are simply not aware of their presence, as they are more likely to silently guide fish to the nets or lines of fishermen beneath the ice. If the fishermen have food, what reason have they to prey on the seals?

They live most of their lives solitary, but when they mate, they mate for life. They raise their children to adulthood, at which point the children will bind themselves to another unit of seals to protect. Agloolik will lose sight of their tranquility if their family is threatened, and may attack without quarter. Largely unrelated, but they pride themselves on performance, perhaps it’s a part of their mating ritual. Most will be able to sing, or dance, or play some instrument.

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Huzzah, more creatures! I linked it into the first post.

Now, for review:
Only math issue is the CMB, which should be +8. It's bab+str+size mod.
You should probably have a thing about what exactly weather savvy does, I just assumed it was a passive thing before I searched the d20pfsrd.
I think it's supposed to have the aquatic subtype.

For a natural sort of creature, I would be opposed to the fur/scales variations, but I suppose I could see such a thing, what with it being a fey creature.

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Originally Posted by Admiral Squish

Huzzah, more creatures! I linked it into the first post.

Now, for review:
Only math issue is the CMB, which should be +8. It's bab+str+size mod.
You should probably have a thing about what exactly weather savvy does, I just assumed it was a passive thing before I searched the d20pfsrd.
I think it's supposed to have the aquatic subtype.

For a natural sort of creature, I would be opposed to the fur/scales variations, but I suppose I could see such a thing, what with it being a fey creature.

Woops, yeah, I had accidentally tossed the dex mod in his CMB (caught my missing size mods there, too). I completely missed that I hadn't included the description of Weather Savvy, I just forgot to transcribe my short hand.

The reason I put both the fur and the scales as options is the sources I had varied on those details. Having only limited information, it felt wrong to completely exclude the option. If you would find it more fitting setting-wise, however, I have no problem with changing that.

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Few problems still in there. For example, you mention claws in the attack line, but they don't show up under full attack, and you mention the tail slap under full attack but not under attack.

You shouldn't give DCs/damage/effects for all those special attacks. Most of the time it's given under the attack description. Rend should be there, but the rest should just be ability names, the details placed underneath.
It should look like: Special Attacks:Death Roll Leap, Rend (1d6+11), Swallow Whole, Tongue

I don't think the save for death roll should be fortitude. Fort's used to resist things like poisons. It should be reflex, to represent keeping your balance, or the cipactli should make a CMB check to try to knock you down.

Again, leap is a bunch of really weird bonuses. Just say they get a +20 bonus if you want them to be amazing jumpers, or +4/+8 if you want them to be somewhat more realistic.

I would again suggest that instead of saying 3x reach, you say '15 feet'. It's easier, and it fits better. If you want it to grapple the guy there and just stay stretched out, then you should give it HP. I would suggest just saying you hit the guy with the tongue then pull him into your square.

For ease of use, just keep (Ex) for swallow whole.

OK, I fixed the claws and the tail slap in the attack lines, and removed the "Leap (Ex)" ability from its special abilities. The reason I had put all the damage and stuff in with the special abilities was because I saw it being done in the Pathfinder SRD, and although it did make the damage simpler to find, it just made everything look crowded instead. I think it flows better now.

The "Leap (Ex)" ability was copy-pasted from the Tsathar, a race of frog-men I found who had a jump attack I kind of liked. But since it does seem a little over-complex, I've removed it. I thought that the text of Death Roll was copied straight from the SRD entry for Crocodiles, but looking at it again, I can't find anything about a Reflex save, so now I'm really not sure where it came from in the first place.

Originally I didn't want to specify what the reach of their tongue attack was, because I was planning on having three different versions of the cipactli. And I'd still like to, actually.

According to Debihuman, "The easiest way to advance creatures is to have them increase in size when they double their HD." So a juvenile cipactli would have 4 HD, and a hatchling would have 2 HD, right? From there, all I've got to do is assign 'em some reduced Ability Scores, give 'em less movement per turn, and reduce the damage of their attacks as they decrease in Size, right?

I've already modified the stat-block into a table, to make room for the other size categories. Expect to see the other slots filled shortly.

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Originally Posted by Perturbulent

Woops, yeah, I had accidentally tossed the dex mod in his CMB (caught my missing size mods there, too). I completely missed that I hadn't included the description of Weather Savvy, I just forgot to transcribe my short hand.

The reason I put both the fur and the scales as options is the sources I had varied on those details. Having only limited information, it felt wrong to completely exclude the option. If you would find it more fitting setting-wise, however, I have no problem with changing that.

It's fine, like I said, it's a fey creature, it doesn't really have to follow the rules of nature, you know? If something comes up that makes one option or the other more appealing, I'll just edit it in the final draft.

Almost missed the comment regarding alebrijes, I'll update the first post with the claim. However you wanna handle it is fine with me, they're a complex kind of critter to take on.

Originally Posted by SuperDave

OK, I fixed the claws and the tail slap in the attack lines, and removed the "Leap (Ex)" ability from its special abilities. The reason I had put all the damage and stuff in with the special abilities was because I saw it being done in the Pathfinder SRD, and although it did make the damage simpler to find, it just made everything look crowded instead. I think it flows better now.

The "Leap (Ex)" ability was copy-pasted from the Tsathar, a race of frog-men I found who had a jump attack I kind of liked. But since it does seem a little over-complex, I've removed it. I thought that the text of Death Roll was copied straight from the SRD entry for Crocodiles, but looking at it again, I can't find anything about a Reflex save, so now I'm really not sure where it came from in the first place.

Originally I didn't want to specify what the reach of their tongue attack was, because I was planning on having three different versions of the cipactli. And I'd still like to, actually.

According to Debihuman, "The easiest way to advance creatures is to have them increase in size when they double their HD." So a juvenile cipactli would have 4 HD, and a hatchling would have 2 HD, right? From there, all I've got to do is assign 'em some reduced Ability Scores, give 'em less movement per turn, and reduce the damage of their attacks as they decrease in Size, right?

I've already modified the stat-block into a table, to make room for the other size categories. Expect to see the other slots filled shortly.

I would suggest that rather than going with juvenile/hatchling, maybe you could go with juvenile/elder? Have one smaller critter, and one larger version. As it stands, the cipactli can't swallow human-sized enemies whole, a larger version would be significantly more dangerous both to PCs and to people in general. Heck, if you're feeling particularly ambitious, maybe even juvenile/elder/ancient, giving you one huge-sized monstrosity that can even swallow tuniit, or horses.

On the special attacks thing, in the universal monster rules thing on the SRD there's usually a 'format' thing at the end that shows how you're supposed to note the ability in the stat block. Some abilities note the damage they deal in the block, others detail their effects in the ability entry.

I can understand that you want to do different sizes of cipactli, but it's easy enough to just note the different lengths for different sizes.

Yes, you're pretty much right regarding how you do the various size-modifications.

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Alebrijes are dreamscape spirits. They are wildly diverse and consistently garish. They resemble animals roughly, but with exaggerated features and nonsensical additions. Perhaps one Alebrije is a seal with wings, while another is a dragon with absurdly floppy ears.

Alebrije wander the Spirit World freely. Additionally, it is not uncommon for a caster or craftsman to become obsessed with them, finding ways to release them in this world.

Alebrije is not a specific creature, but rather a template that can be placed upon any animal or magical beast.

CR: Base creature+1+trait scoreAlignment: Usually ChaoticType: changes to Magical beast if it wasn’t before.Immunities: The base creature is immune to mind-affecting effects.Special Attacks: Alebrije Chant: If a caster targets an Alebrije with a mind-affecting effect, the caster must make a concentration check any time they would cast a spell for the next 1d4 rounds as they repeatedly chant “Alebrijes” in the caster’s mind (DC is equal to 10+hd of base creature+charisma modifier)Garish: Anyone looking upon an Alebrije is dazzled until having spent a full round looking away.

Each Alebrije has at least 3 trait points from the following list. For every 3 additional trait points an Alebrije has, its trait score goes up by 1.

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Additional Attack (Ex, 1 TP): Gains an additional slam attack.Additional Natural Attack (Ex, 1 TP): The Alebrije gains an additional natural attack. The Alebrije must have an appropriate appendage or part for the natural attack.Additional Movement (Ex, 1 TP): Gains a new mode of movement (burrow, climb, fly [clumsy], or swim) at a speed equal to its base speed.Augmented Critical (Ex, 1 TP): Increase the threat range for the Alebrije’s melee attacks by 1 or the threat multiplier by 1.Boost (Ex, 2 TP): +4 to any one ability score (This may be taken more than once, but it must be taken in different ability scores)Constrict (Ex, 1 TP): Gains constrict with its attacks (the Alebrije must have grab before it can take this ability).Enlarge (Ex, 3 TP): Increases by one size category, gains +8 str, -4 dex, and +4 con. Reach increase by 5 feet. An Alebrije cannot take both enlarge and shrink.Exceptional Reach (Ex, 1 TP): The Alebrije gains +5 feet of reach with one melee attack. Increase reach on all attacks for an additional +1 TP.Faster (Ex, 1 TP): One of the Alebrije's movement modes increases by +10 ft.Grab (Ex, 1 TP): Gains grab special attack with slam attacks.Improved Attack (Ex, 1 TP): All the Alebrije’s melee or ranged attacks do damage as though it were one size category larger. A crafter must purchase Improved Attack separately for melee and ranged attacks.Pull (Ex, 1 TP): The Alebrije gains a pull (5 feet) special attack with slam attacks (the Alebrije must have grab before it can take this ability).Ranged Attack (Ex, 2 TP): Add a ranged version of one natural attack. It does the same amount of damage, and has a range of 20 feet. Replace all attacks for an additional +2 TP.Skilled (Ex, 1 TP): Alebrije gets +2 racial bonus per HD to a skill or skills. They must be placed in +2 increments. (A 5 HD Alebrije could put +10 in perception, or +6 in perform dance and +4 in intimidate)Shrink (Ex, 1 TP): Decreases by one size category, gains -4 str, +6 dex. An Alebrije cannot take both enlarge and shrink.Trample (Ex, 2 TP): The Alebrije gains the trample special attack.Trip (Ex): The Alebrije gains the trip special ability with one of its slam attacks.

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Very nice! I like how you make it not only variable enough that it can be applied to all sorts of creatures, but you can make it so two wolf-alebrijes are totally different monsters.

Review:
Incorporeal is a subtype as well as a special defense, and it has a bunch of other weirdness associated with it. Like, incorporeal creatures have no str score, and I think they all fly, and a bunch of other things. I would recommend dropping it for simplicity.
Garish is rather powerful. A constant blindness gaze effect is seriously hardcore. I would recommend taking it down a notch to the Dazzled condition. It's significantly less powerful, but it's easier to work with.
The example creature has some math problems, mostly relating to the incorporeal type, but you also list it's type as animal rather than magical beast.

My query: Do you have any ecology ideas for where/how they fit into the world? My original plan was to just have them be regular creatures native to the spirit world, which you could see sometimes through things like fever dreams or spirit journeys. However, looking over your take, I could see them as incorporeal spirits spawned from fever dreams or the minds of madmen.

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

First, I hadn't actually considered incorporeal terribly much, but I saw that you had intend the Alebrijes to occupy the spirit world, which is why I adjusted that. It seems much simpler to me for them to not. I will adjust them to remove that and make everything much simpler. It sounds now as though your spirit world need not be incorporeal (my mistake for only having done limited research).

My answer: I intended them to occupy a similar place. Various spirit world critters that can be found via your mentioned methods. Additionally, I feel their tendencies would result in either their mimicking their base creature or being solitary as far as organization is concerned. I also feel as though it would be odd to not include some sort of obsessed caster or craftsman or something releasing or reconstructing Alebrijes on the material world.

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Okay, I think I should clarify the spirit world for people who may be brewing spirit world creatures and haven't read the thread:
The spirit world is the only non-material plane in the crossroads setting. The souls of people who die move to the spirit world before moving on to an unknown plane Beyond. Everywhere that exists on the mortal world has a spirit-version that exists on the spirit world, but there are places on the spirit world that have no real-world counterpart. It's somewhat shaped by the minds of the creatures on the mortal world. You can travel to the spirit world physically with high-level magic, or you can visit spiritually by making your soul leave your body somehow, be it psychedelics, astral projection, or near-death experience.

I could totally imagine a crazy crafter making construct versions of the alebrijes.

I see you changed the garish ability to dazed. Dazed is way more hardcore than blind. I mean, at least with blind you can still take actions, but dazed ya just stand there like a mook. Dazzled is just a -1 to attack and perception, but it's the closest thing I can think of that isn't super-powerful. If you go with dazzled, you could even remove the save to avoid the condition.

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!

Az-i-wu-gum-ki-mukh-'tis resemble walruses with a fur-covered head. Their sharp fangs replace the walrus' tusk. In addition, they have a massive front paws and a thick, flexible tail covered in dark scales used to batter opponents.

They are one of the few creatures willing to tackle a full-grown walrus and other hazardous creatures.

They cannot speak but can understand Common.

Last edited by Debihuman; 2014-02-20 at 10:31 PM.

P.E.A.C.H. Please Evaluate And Critique Honestly. Being nicer and kinder doesn't hurt either. Note I generally only critique 3.5 and Pathfinder material.
Please, please, please when using non-core material, cite to the books. There are too many books to wade through to find the one with the feat, special ability or spell you use.my creations in homebrew signature thread

Re: Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

Very cool! Linked it in the first post, and review is incoming.

Review:
Well, the first thing is that the myths all refer to it as a giant walrus, so it would have to be bigger than a walrus. I'd suggest upping it to huge, but it's fine if you don't agree.
Second, the myths specifically point to the tail as it's most dangerous weapon, maybe we should make that the primary attack?
Magical beasts have full BAB, so the BAB should be +6, which throws off a lot of the math, but I think once you fix that everything's groovy.

Current Projects:Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!